


i wanna be defined by the things that i love (not the things i hate)

by Dinosaur1212



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, but it's at least gonna drag out for a lil bit, dark josie out here ready to mess stuff up, figured i would supply jasie content, i'm trying out the whole dark josie can kinda control jade thing, if i don't mention how josie is a pyro what's the point?, maybe slowburn? i have no patience so we'll see, purely b/c she turned her humanity on, this is really just what i wanted to happen, this was a 1am decision to start
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:08:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23178226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dinosaur1212/pseuds/Dinosaur1212
Summary: “Jade, are you even listening to us?”Pulled out of her thoughts, Jade focused on Wendy who had obviously said something to her that she hadn’t heard, so she admitted, “Sorry, I wasn’t, I was thinking.”“Thinking about Josie Saltzman probably,” Alyssa stated, rolling her eyes as she did so.ORa slightly different spin on what happened after the return from the prison world
Relationships: Jade/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 19
Kudos: 174





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Howdy everyone! I've been toying with this idea since 2x13 aired and finally decided I would put it into words (or at least try to). I have the next few chapters already planned out from all my thinking so hopefully I update quickly. I also figured we needed more Jasie content since there aren't a lot of fics out there yet, so here I am with this. So without further ado, I present the first chapter.

Josie had been gone for hours from the Old Mill, but Jade was still thinking about the small smile the siphoner had given her right before she left. If she was being honest, she was still thinking about the whole conversation she had had with Josie about how they were both thankful to have their real selves back. 

“Jade, are you even listening to us?” 

Pulled out of her thoughts, Jade focused on Wendy who had obviously said something to her that she hadn’t heard, so she admitted, “Sorry, I wasn’t, I was thinking.”

“Thinking about Josie Saltzman probably,” Alyssa stated, rolling her eyes as she did so.

Jade wasn’t sure why, but she did, “And that would be an issue because?”

“Because there’s no way Alaric is going to let you anywhere near his daughter,” Alyssa said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“She does have a point actually,” Wendy noted, looking down at the ground when Jade shot a look her way.

“But he wrongly sent us to the prison world, so I doubt he’s going to discard us like that again,” Jade argued, wanting more than anything to be given a second chance to attend the Salvatore School.

“Think whatever you want, but don’t get your hopes up,” Alyssa cautioned as she moved to situate herself in her sleeping bag, “Regardless, I’m going to sleep so keep it down.”

“Whatever you say,” Wendy sarcastically replied as she turned her attention back to Jade, “I’m tired too, so I’m going to sleep too. Don’t let a certain someone occupy your thoughts too long so that you can’t sleep.”

Jade just rolled her eyes at Wendy, simply replying with, “Goodnight Wendy.”

Wendy just smiled at Jade as she laid down in her sleeping bag, softly saying, “Goodnight.”

And suddenly, Jade was left alone with her thoughts. In an attempt to take Wendy’s advice, Jade crawled into her sleeping bag trying to clear her mind, but that proved impossible. It didn’t help that Jade was still trying to process getting her humanity turned back on, so her emotions were still a little scattered. They were a lot to deal with, but she reasoned it made sense after having her humanity turned off for so long. She could only hope it would become easier with time. Then there were her thoughts about the conversation with Josie still replaying through her mind, and memories of how Josie was in the prison world after breaking the sandclock. Josie had been so cold and devoid of feeling, but she had still turned Jade’s humanity back on, and that was something Jade was still trying to figure out; the reason that Dark Josie had decided to turn her humanity back on.

Eventually, however, Jade did find sleep, but not before realizing she would probably never know the reason Dark Josie had turned her humanity back on. 

\--------------------------

“Jade, thank you for taking the time to meet with me today,” Alaric said as Jade entered into his office and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

“It was this or sit in the Old Mill, so I chose the one that let me see some scenery,” Jade joked, hoping to lighten the mood, or at least make it less strained.

“I guess that’s true,” Alaric remarked, clearing his throat as he continued, “I just wanted to talk about some things with you, regarding your status here at the school and where you’ll be located.”

Jade nodded, not knowing what she should say in response, so she just let Alaric continue talking.

“If you want, you are more than welcome to re-enroll in classes here at the school, and I encourage it, because a lot has changed since you’ve been gone. I understand if you don’t want to stay though after everything I did to you.”

“I would love nothing more than to start classes here again. I just want a second chance to get things right,” Jade truthfully admitted, briefly wondering if there were any new classes at the school or if they were still all the same.

“Excellent. That brings me to the second part of what I wanted to say now,” Alaric said, continuing with, “Since you’re willing to come back to the Salvatore School, you’re going to need a room, which means a roommate, and I was wondering if you would be okay rooming with Hope? Since Alyssa will no longer be her roommate due to everything that happened, I figured you would be a good replacement, even if Hope might be mad that I gave her a new roommate.”

Jade didn’t know much about Hope, she had only seen her the previous night as they came back from the prison world, but then she had run off to find some boy named Landon, and Josie went with her. So Jade didn’t see a problem with it as she answered with, “That sounds good to me as long as Hope is cool with it. I don’t want to intrude upon her space if she isn’t okay with it.”

“She’ll be fine with it, I think. She’s becoming more social since her stint in Malivore,” Alaric revealed to Jade.

Nodding, Jade didn’t know what to say, so she changed the topic by asking, “What did Wendy decide to do?”

Letting out a chuckle, Alaric answered her, “I was wondering when you would ask. She decided to stay, but she’s going to be rooming with Alyssa, which they both strangely requested. That at least made the job easier since they wanted to room together.”

Jade found it weird Wendy would want to room with Alyssa, but that was a concern for another time as Alaric was talking again.

“Anyways, you can start classes as early as tomorrow, but take as much time as you need. There’s no rush. As for getting adjusted, any of the students here would be more than willing to help you adjust to life here at the school. I do encourage you to talk to MG though as he’s also a ripper, so you might be able to benefit from a friendship with him. I actually asked him to show you where your room is, so you can talk to him right after this meeting. There should be some uniforms dropped off at your room at some point today, along with some clothes that don’t have the school’s logo on them.”

“Thank you so much Dr. Saltzman. I really appreciate all of this,” Jade genuinely said as she thought about talking to another vampire that was a ripper. She thought it would be good to be able to talk to someone that shared her experience.

“You’re welcome Jade, but this never should’ve happened. I know I can never undo what I did to you and Wendy, but I am incredibly sorry. You were dealing with something major and I didn’t take the time to acknowledge it, instead I labelled you a villain and dealt with you like one, and that was wrong. As you said, you were crying for help, but I couldn’t see it, and that means I failed you as someone who made a promise to keep you safe when you first came to the school. I just hope this second chance can partially make up for what I did to you,” Alaric said, launching into a heartfelt apology, earning Jade’s respect by just a minute amount.

“We can’t change the past, but we can learn from it. In this instance, the tradeoff was pretty serious, but we have to make do with what happened,” Jade started, not knowing if she should say what she was also thinking, but ultimately deciding to, “Truthfully, I don’t know if I can ever truly forgive you for what happened, but the fact that you’re trying to fix it means a lot to me. Maybe over time I’ll truly forgive you, but right now what I did in the prison world is too fresh in my mind.”

“I more than understand Jade, and I appreciate your honesty,” Alaric said as he fidgeted with the pencil that he had been holding, “That’s all I have to say, so you can go to your room now.”

Jade nodded as she stood up and walked towards the door, and right before she opened the door, she turned to Alaric and said, “I’d like to start classes as soon as I can if you can have a schedule by tomorrow. I think the routine of a school schedule would do me some good.” She didn’t give him a chance to respond as she left the office and went out into the hallway to see a boy she didn’t know, accompanied by none other than Josie Saltzman.

“Hey Jade,” Josie greeted when she saw Jade come out of the office, “This is MG and he’s supposed to show you to your room if you decided to stay, and I just stopped by to see how the meeting with my dad went.”

“The meeting went really well. I’m going to be starting classes tomorrow hopefully if your dad can have a schedule ready. I just want to try and get back to a normal life if that’s even possible,” Jade said, directing her reply to Josie before she turned to MG and commented, “It’s nice to meet you MG.”

“You too. Dr. Saltzman told me you were a ripper, so he asked me to help you get situated and to see how you’re doing,” MG finally spoke up.

“I should let you two get to that then,” Josie noted before asking, “Who is your roommate though?”

“Hope. Your dad thought it would work out since Alyssa was no longer her roommate and Wendy wanted to room with Alyssa apparently,” Jade answered before voicing a concern of hers, “Do you think Hope will mind having me as a roommate? Your dad said she doesn’t really like having one.”

Josie had a thoughtful expression on her face as she replied, “I’m sure you’ll be fine. Hope’s nice and she’ll help you if you need it. I don’t think she would purposely give you a hard time, so long as you give her her own space.”

“Josie’s right. Hope likes to have her own space sometimes,” MG added, shifting awkwardly on his feet at how Jade and Josie seemed to be having their own conversation.

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind then,” Jade noted, making a mental note to remember this.

“Good, and if she gives you a hard time, just tell me and I’ll talk to her,” Josie offered before looking over her shoulder down the hallways, turning back to Jade saying, “I should go see how Lizzie’s doing, but I’ll swing by your room after to see how you’re doing.” 

With that, Josie turned and walked away, towards what Jade assumed was her room. 

“She was talking about you all morning yanno?” MG stated in a way that made it sound like a question.

Jade was taken aback by that, and her words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, “She was talking about me?”

She could see MG falter at her question, as if he realized he said something he shouldn't have, but he quickly recovered.

“Uh, yeah, she was. She was also talking about Wendy and Alyssa, and what was going to happen to you guys, but she was mostly worried about you. I didn’t say anything though.”

Jade found his straightforwardness endearing, but she couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her mouth as she said, “Your secret is safe with me MG.”

Smiling back at Jade, MG clapped his hands together as he said, “Awesome! Now we better get you situated in your room.” He turned to walk away, and turned around to make sure Jade was following him before he asked, “I know the story probably isn’t good, but how did you discover you were a ripper?”

And there it was, the question Jade knew he would probably ask her, but it still hurt nonetheless. She could see the events of that night flashing through her mind and it felt like she had been punched in the stomach; it hurt to think about it. How she had been completely unable to control herself and had killed someone she cared about. Knowing she had no power over it was what still hurt her, but she knew MG meant no harm by the question; he only wanted to understand her.

Realizing the silence, MG started speaking again, explaining how he found out, “I realized I was a ripper after I killed Landon, Hope’s boyfriend. Fortunately, we discovered he was a phoenix after this, because he came back, but it still haunts me that I was capable of actually killing him without a second thought. I spoke to Emma, the school therapist, about it for a while, and now that she’s back, I’m seeing her again for it. I’m sure Dr. Saltzman will have you start doing sessions with her for everything that happened.”

Jade tried not to think about the fact that MG had done something similar to her, but it still upset her to know that she was sent to the prison world, but MG hadn’t been. Opting not to comment on that issue, Jade instead told MG what she had done, “I had snuck out to a party with Wendy and Diego in an attempt to see if this girl liked me back. Suffice to say, it didn’t go as planned, and it got out of hand, and then to top it all off, I ended up killing the girl who I liked. I shut my humanity off after that, so when Dr. Saltzman questioned me the next day, I didn’t give a shit at all, so he sent us to the prison world.” She almost ran into MG when she was done talking, because he had stopped walking, which she assumed was because they were outside of a door to a room. Before they could enter, she finished by saying, “I think going to therapy would do me some good honestly, so I’ll have to talk to him about it.”

“That’s awful Jade. What happened to you was really wrong, but at least you’re here now,” MG said in an attempt to comfort Jade before opening the door to the room in front of them, “And this is where you’ll be living for as long as you’re at the school.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo all, I'm back with the next installment of this fic, so enjoy

Walking into the room, Jade saw that Hope was already in there, so she awkwardly stopped walking once she was in the room and waited to see if Hope would say anything.

“You must be Jade,” Hope started in introduction, “We never officially met, but I’m Hope. And apparently your roommate.”

“Yeah, if it’s okay with you,” Jade offered, unable to decipher Hope’s tone about her being her roommate. A few seconds went by before Jade added, “It’s nice to officially meet you Hope.”

“You too Jade, and I’m fine with you being my roommate,” Hope admitted, a hint of hesitation in her voice before she concluded with, “As long as you’re not like Alyssa, we should be fine.”

Jade nodded, “I’ll try my best, but from being stuck with her last night, I can assure you that her and I are nothing alike.” She had only been stuck with Alyssa for a night, and she could tell that she wasn’t similar to the snarky demeanor that Alyssa had; at least with her humanity on.

“Well I’m glad to see you two are hitting it off, but we better get Jade all settled in before the day is over,” MG declared, speaking up from the doorway.

Rolling her eyes at MG, Hope commented, “I already dealt with everything Dorian dropped off earlier. It was that or leave it in a pile in the middle of the floor, which I would not have been fun.”

Jade finally looked around the room and noticed that Hope really had dealt with everything, because the bed was made, and the Salvatore School uniforms were sitting on the bed.

“I just figured you would deal with the uniforms though I didn’t want to intrude further into your space,” Hope added when she noticed Jade studying the room.

“That was really nice of you Hope. I appreciate it,” Jade said, offering a genuine smile to the tribrid, “I owe you one.”

“It was no big deal, I had nothing to do,” Hope replied, walking over to the bed so she could pick a basket up off of the floor, “There’s this too. It has hygiene products and stuff like that. I’m sure you’ll find a place for it.” Setting it back on the floor, she stood up, waiting for Jade’s reply.

“Regardless of if it was a big deal or not, it was really nice of you,” Jade remarked, thinking about how it had been so long since someone did something this nice for her. Being stuck in the prison world had only been torture and constant killing; there was never time for nice gestures. People only ever came to her if they needed fixed up from an injury, or if they were trying to kill her. She was still adjusting to the idea that people could be nice, and Josie, Hope, and MG had been nothing but nice so far, especially Josie.

From the doorway, MG spoke again, “Since this job is done, how about we go get something to eat? We can introduce you to some of the other students.”

“We?” Hope questioned, “How did I get roped into this?”

“I assumed you would be hungry,” MG said, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Looking back and forth between the two, Jade spoke up, “You don’t have to introduce me to people if you don’t want to. I think MG was just inviting you along with us.”

“If that’s the case, then I’ll go,” Hope conceded, walking towards where MG and Jade were.

“Great!” MG exclaimed, “Let’s go.”

\--------------------------

“So you’re one of the prison world kids?” Kaleb asked as he slid down into a seat beside MG.

“Dude c’mon, she has a name,” MG reprimanded as soon as Kaleb was done speaking, “You’ll have to excuse Kaleb, he’s a little insensitive.”

Jade just offered a small smile, knowing she should’ve expected people to act like that around her, “It’s fine. I am one of the prison world kids. I’m Jade.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you Jade, and I’m sorry for my insensitivity as MG calls it,” Kaleb sincerely offered.

Before anyone could say anything, two more people were sitting down at the table, this time beside Hope and Jade.

“Before you get mad at me for letting Lizzie walk here, she threatened to tell everyone a super embarrassing story about me if I didn’t.”

Jade turned to see Josie sitting beside her with a worried look on her face, and Jade laughed, “You’re fine. You supervised her, and I can’t be mad at you for that.”

“See, I told you she wouldn’t be mad at you Jo,” Lizzie assured before turning her attention to ask Hope, “Where’s bird boy at?”

“Honestly, I have no clue. We got into a big fight last night over certain things and he stormed off,” Hope revealed, and Jade could hear the pain in Hope’s voice.

“Hope that’s horrible,” Josie expressed, “I’m sure you two will work it out.”

“Or maybe she’ll realize she can do better than him,” Lizzie quickly suggested.

MG and Kaleb gave each other a look at Lizzie’s comment before Kaleb said, “I need MG’s help with something, so we’ll see you around.” They were quickly gone from the dining hall so as to not get sucked into whatever was about to happen.

Jade just watched them go, a part of her wishing she had gone with them to avoid whatever drama was coming, but the other part of her was happy to stay and sit by Josie even if it meant she had to be a part of the next few minutes’ event.

“Lizzie! You can’t just say that, they had a fight!” Josie proclaimed, sending her sister a confused look.

“I’m only speaking the truth and you know it,” Lizzie contested, “After all, you do have first hand experience with dating him.”

Jade looked over at Josie to see that the girl almost looked upset, and she wondered why Lizzie pointing out a past boyfriend would make her so upset. For a moment she also wondered why Hope hadn’t seemed upset about her fight with Landon earlier; if she was being honest, she would say Hope was in a fairly good mood. She didn’t have a chance to ponder it long before Hope was finally responding.

“It’s not going to work out Josie. Him and I just aren’t meant to be, sometimes epic loves aren’t forever loves, just temporary ones. Realistically, him and I would never work out in the long run, but I am grateful for the time we had together. And while Lizzie may have a harsh way of wording things, she was kind of right, because I can do better by finding a relationship that is going to work out.”

“See, I was right,” Lizzie cheekily commented, shrugging when Josie raised an eyebrow at her.

“Are you okay though Hope?” Jade asked, deciding to bring herself into the conversation instead of staying silent.

Hope was silent for a moment before revealing, “I’m actually doing really good. We had run our course, and while I’ll always care about him, it wasn’t right anymore.” Standing up from the table she said, “And with that I’m going to go read in the library.”

“Hey, wait! I want to come with you,” Lizzie proclaimed, trying to stand up before Hope put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

“You can come, but at least let me help you get there,” Hope offered as she moved to help Lizzie stand up.

“Are you sure it’s okay if Lizzie goes with you?” Josie questioned, “I’d get it if you wanted to be alone after something like that. It’s not fun.”

Nodding in response to Josie, Hope also said, “It’s perfectly alright. This way you get some time off from making sure she’s okay. You can get some other stuff done.”

And with that, Hope and Lizzie left, leaving just Jade and Josie alone at the table. Both girls sat in silence for a moment, both lost in their own thoughts, before Josie broke the silence.

“How was getting situated in your room?”

“It was really easy since Hope had already dealt with most of the stuff that was given to me,” Jade answered, “I just have to deal with my uniform stuff and that’s all.”

Josie made a face somewhere between surprised and intrigued as she commented, “That was nice of her. An out of character move for her, but who knows what’s going on in her mind right now.”

“Yeah, she has to be upset,” Jade stated before changing the topic, “Enough about other people though. How is Josie Saltzman doing? I hear she hasn’t had the easiest time of late.” Smiling when her words made Josie laugh, Jade asserted, “I’m serious though, how are you doing?”

Directing her gaze at Jade, Josie admitted, “As good as can be expected when you’re recovering from dark magic I guess. I don’t feel out of the ordinary at all, so that’s a plus. I’m just hoping things settle down at the school now once everything settles down from this.” Pausing, Josie asked her own question, “And how are you doing? I’m sure coming back was a lot to process.”

Looking down Jade nodded in agreement, “Yeah, it was, but for everything that has changed, there are also things that have stayed the same. Plus my emotions are all over the place every now and then which sucks, but I’m happy they’re back. I’m sure it’ll take a while for me to adjust to everything, and I’m okay with that as long as I get to stay here.”

“And you’ll get to stay here as long as you need to,” Josie quickly assured, “There’s no way my dad can ever do what he did to you guys ever again. No one here would let him.”

“I’m glad to hear that. No one should have to go through being banished to a prison world; it’s horrible,” Jade quietly affirmed, before looking back up at Josie and saying, “And I know this is off topic, but if you ever need someone to talk to, I can always listen. I can’t say I’d give the best advice, but I can definitely listen and maybe try to offer advice.” 

Offering a small smile towards Jade, Josie said, “I appreciate the offer...and your honesty about your advice giving skills.” Biting her bottom lip for a second in thought, Josie added, “And I’m always here if you need to talk to someone too. If I can go to you to vent, then you can come to me to vent.”

If Jade’s heartbeat slightly increased at Josie’s offer, she wouldn’t admit it to anyone, instead opting to reply, “I’ll definitely have to take you up on that one day, so long as you take me up on my offer.”

“Consider it a deal then,” Josie replied, extending her hand that Jade shook after a second’s hesitation.

\--------------------------

“So Emma gave you your schedule tonight?” Hope inquired as she sat down on her bed.

Looking up from the paper in her hands, Jade stated, “Yeah she did, and it’s practically identical to the one I had ten years ago. The classes really haven’t changed.”

“They really haven’t,” Hope confirmed, “They’ve added maybe one or two classes that I know of in the past few years, but they’re all full.”

“I figured I would be getting all the classes people didn’t want,” Jade stated, going on to admit, “I like them though; they’re mostly science classes, and that’s fortunately my favorite subject. It’s the other required classes I’m not excited for.” Sure, she probably knew most of what was going to be taught in the classes, because while in the prison world she still managed to learn about the subject even with her humanity off, but she was still happy to have a course load that was suited to her interests. A part of her wondered if Alaric remembered her love of science, but she wouldn’t give him the credit for it because of everything that happened.

“Let me guess, Intro to Magic History?” Hope asked.

“Yeah,” Jade answered, before asking, “How did you know?” 

“No one is ever excited for that class,” Hope answered, pausing in thought before adding, “‘Except maybe Wade. He did put a lot of energy into his fairy research that fortunately ended up coming in handy.”

“I feel like that’s a story for another day,” Jade observed, extremely curious as to how fairy research could be handy, but figured it probably had something to do with the Malivore monsters she had heard students talking about throughout the day.

“You’re right. I’ll tell you another day, but it’s getting late and I have an early training session with Alaric,” Hope replied, moving to crawl under the blankets on her bed, reaching towards the lamp on her nightstand, “Goodnight Jade.”

“Goodnight,” Jade answered as the room was cast into darkness. There was some moonlight filtering in from the window as Jade set her schedule down on her nightstand as she settled underneath the blankets on her bed, closing her eyes. As she drifted off to sleep, her mind was thinking about who would be in her classes tomorrow, hopeful that a certain brunette siphoner would be in at least one.

\--------------------------

Opening her eyes, Jade could instantly tell something was wrong. For starters, she was outside, and the smell of smoke was filling the air. Then there was the fact that as she turned around, she noticed she was near the Salvatore School gates, and everything around them was on fire. In fact, everything within the gates seemed to be on fire. Having no idea what was going on, Jade looked around more and saw that someone was standing by the gates. Moving closer, she could tell that whoever it was, they were a girl. A girl that Jade could recognize anywhere, Josie Saltzman, but something was off about her. Josie didn’t look like Josie, and as she looked past who she thought was Josie, she saw the Josie she recognized just past the first one.

It was almost as if as soon as Jade noticed Josie, they made direct eye contact, and she saw the confused and scared expression on Josie’s face as Josie blurted out, “Jade?”

That was all it took for the other Josie to turn around, and Jade instantly recognized her as the Josie from the prison world after the sandclock had been broken, it was the Josie who had been taken over by dark magic, and she had a mischievous smile on her face as she approached Jade.

“Why look who we have here, the vampire you just can’t seem to keep thinking about. It would be a shame if something happened to her,” Dark Josie taunted over her shoulder towards Josie as she finally came to a stop about two feet away from Jade, finishing her taunt off with, “This is definitely going to be fun.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure based off of this ending, you can tell next chapter is where stuff is going to really pick up, and I'm excited to write it over the next few days! You can find me on Twitter @legayseas for my random as can be tweets. Make sure to stay hydrated and safe everyone!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, I'm back with another chapter of this. Hope you all enjoy

“Don’t you dare touch her,” Josie’s voice rang out, trembling slightly from fear.

Jade just stood there looking back and forth between the two Josies, completely unsure of what to do. Her first instinct was to protect Josie from what was happening, but she had no idea what was actually happening. To make matters worse, Jade had no idea if she was dreaming or not; there was no way of knowing unless something were to happen to her.

“Or what are you going to do to me? You can’t stop me, you’re only keeping control right now because I’m letting you,” Dark Josie scoffed over her shoulder towards Josie.

“Josie, what’s happening?” Jade questioned, trying to maintain her composure so Dark Josie wouldn’t think she was intimidating her.

Josie looked like she was fighting back tears as she answered, “It’s not gone Jade. The dark magic is still in me, and it’s trying to take control.”

Smirking at Jade, Dark Josie replied, “How nice of her to tell you that, but what a shame it is that you won’t remember any of it after this.”

And before Jade knew what was happening, Dark Josie snapped her fingers and everything went black.

\--------------------------

“Jade, hey, wake up.”

Being pulled from her sleep by the feeling of someone shaking her shoulder set off every alarm bell in her mind she had developed in the prison world. Before she could process who it was, she was pinning them against the wall, and that’s when she realized who it was. It was Hope, and surprisingly she didn’t seem fazed by what had happened.

Quickly releasing Hope, Jade’s apology was soon to follow as she started talking, “I am so sorry Hope. I didn’t mean to do that. It’s just I’m not used to the idea of being woken up in the middle of the night by someone who doesn’t intend on killing me. I really should’ve warned you-”

Cutting Jade off, Hope gently spoke, “Hey, it’s all good. I should’ve known it would be a bad idea, but you seemed to be having a nasty dream. What happened?”

Trying to think about what had been going on, Jade couldn’t remember anything, “I-I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

“At least that means you won’t be troubled by what it was about,” Hope suggested as she moved back towards her own bed.

Jade did the same as she answered, “But I am troubled by it, because I feel like it was important.” Looking down at her shirt, Jade noticed a single piece of ash stuck to her shirt and she frowned.

Having turned to look at Jade, Hope noticed her frown, so she asked, “What is it?”

“There’s a piece of ash on my shirt, but I haven’t been near a fire at all,” Jade revealed, having a sinking feeling in her gut that it was connected to whatever it was her dream was about.

“Ash? That is weird because there are no fires on campus,” Hope observed, hesitating before explaining, “Alaric did away with them years ago after he learned Josie happened to really enjoy fire. That being said, she still finds ways to use fire spells.”

“That’s interesting information,” Jade slowly stated, trying to sort through all of the thoughts running through her head, “So where do you think this is from?” If there was no fire on the school grounds, that only meant it was from Josie, which made no sense to Jade. She hadn’t seen Josie since dinner, and Jade had changed into her pajamas a few hours after dinner.

It was Hope’s turn to frown as she replied, “I honestly don’t know. I would love to say it’s nothing, but nothing is ever truly nothing here, especially over the past year and a half. It’s late though, and there’s no way to tell where that came from, so maybe we should just let it go and hope it’s a one time occurence.”

“Yeah, a one time occurence,” Jade echoed, going on to apologize again for attacking Hope, “And I know you said it was all good, but I’m still sorry for pinning you against the wall. I’m sure it caught you off guard and I could’ve hurt you.”

“I would’ve been fine Jade, trust me,” Hope assured Jade as she climbed back into her own bed and laid down.

Not knowing if Hope was telling the truth or just trying to put her mind at ease, Jade replied, “I trust you, which might be weird since we just met, but Josie trusts you, and I trust her.” Setting the piece of ash on her nightstand, Jade proceeded to sit down on her bed, knowing she wouldn’t be able to sleep for a while.

“It’s not weird for you to trust people whom the people you care about trust,” Hope remarked, yawning as she added, “We can talk about this more in the morning if you want. Try to get some rest instead of thinking about it all night.”

“I won’t,” Jade lied, laying down on her bed so Hope would believe she was going to sleep. It must have worked because Hope didn’t say anything else, and Jade presumed she had fallen back asleep. Shifting in her bed so that she was staring at her ceiling, she tried to figure out what had happened in her dream that would’ve had her agitated. If she was being honest, there were a lot of things it could’ve been, but the ash on her shirt, coupled with what Hope had said, it made her feel like it had to involve Josie somehow. But that would mean the dream wouldn’t have been a dream; it would’ve been real. This is what confused her, because it didn’t make any sense, and all of this was reliant on the fact that both things were related.

Jade was still thinking all of this through when she eventually drifted off to sleep, her thoughts centered around a certain siphoner.

\--------------------------

Jade was walking to her second class of the day when she saw Josie walking into the classroom she was heading towards. Hurrying to the class so she could potentially sit by Josie, Jade saw that Josie was alone at a table. Gaining her composure, she walks to the table and asked Josie the age-old, iconic line, “Is this seat taken?”

Jumping slightly at Jade’s voice, Josie murmured out a reply, “No it’s not.”

Confused as to why Josie jumped when she spoke, Jade slid into the chair as she asked, “Is everything okay?”

Refusing to make eye contact with Jade, Josie replied, “Yeah, I’m good.”

“Are you sure? You can talk to me about whatever it is that’s going on,” Jade offered, taking note of how Josie wouldn’t look at her, and if Jade was being honest, it bothered her that Josie wouldn’t look at her.

“It’s nothing,” Josie said in an attempt to reassure Jade she was fine.

“Nothing is always something Josie,” Jade countered, making a mental note to thank Hope for what she had said last night, as she had been able to use it with Josie.

Biting her bottom lip in thought for a moment, Josie eventually responded as if she was making a painful decision, “I can’t tell you Jade, and even if I tried to, I couldn’t.”

Jade could almost swear Josie had emphasized the word ‘couldn’t,’ but she wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, so she questioned it, “What do you mean you couldn’t?”

“I’m saying I am unable to tell you what’s happening. I wish I could, I really do, but just know that I’m sorry about it. I’m sorry for all of it, even if you don’t know what that all entails,” Josie truthfully and sincerely told Jade.

Ready to reply with another question, Jade was unable to as the teacher had started talking at the front of the room. Instead, Jade spent the rest of the class trying to listen to the teacher’s lecture on atoms and the kinds of bonds they form, but she was too busy trying to figure out what Josie meant when she said she had been apologizing for everything, even if she didn’t know everything Josie was referencing. It was almost as if Josie knew something that had happened to Jade that she didn’t remember, and the only thing that came to mind was her mystery dream from last night.

\--------------------------

“Hey Hope, can I talk to you about something?” Jade asked, sitting across from Hope at an otherwise unoccupied lunch table.

Looking up from her food, Hope answered, “Yeah, of course. What is it?”

Weighing her two options of approach—telling Hope about her interaction with Josie or asking about a memory spell—Jade opted for the second option, asking, “Do you know of any spells that could erase memories or alter them at all?”

“What makes you ask that?” Hope questioned, wary of what Jade was asking.

“I’m just trying to get to the bottom of why I can’t remember what happened last night. I want to cover all my bases,” Jade answered, trying not to bring Josie into the discussion at all. She would as a last resort, but as it was right now, she didn’t see a point dragging Josie into the conversation.

Nodding at Jade’s response, Hope conceded, “That makes sense. To answer your question, though, besides Malivore which really isn’t a spell, I know of a spell that can alter your memories. There’s only one catch, it’s a dark magic spell, and all the spellbooks for dark magic aren’t easily accessible. I doubt whatever happened is a result of that, so it’s probably due to do something else.”

The words dark magic ran through Jade’s head, and if that’s what made everything click, she didn’t get a chance to say so as MG was sitting down beside Jade while Kaleb sat down beside Hope.

“What’s up guys?” MG happily asked looking back and forth between Jade and Hope.

“Just talking about how Jade’s first day is going,” Hope answered, focusing her attention on MG as she answered.

“And how is your first day back going?” Kaleb asked.

Turning her thoughts away from what she was beginning to piece together, Jade answered, “It’s going really well. I like all my classes so far, but I know Intro to Magical History is going to blow.”

“Awesome!” MG exclaimed, offering a wide smile towards Jade, “I mean about it being a good day, not the Magical History thing.”

“I think she got that part MG,” Kaleb stated, rolling his eyes ever so slightly before propositioning, “There’s a party going on tomorrow at the Old Mill, and I thought that maybe it would be a good idea to get everyone together, and then they can meet Jade too.” 

Jade was just about to ask about whether or not Wendy was going to be there, when Kaleb seemed to sense what she was about to ask and started talking again.

“And don’t worry, we already talked to Wendy and she’s going to be there.”

“Then I’ll be there,” Jade affirmed, figuring a party would give her a chance to interact with other people at the school, and to show them that she wasn’t someone to be afraid of. She had seen some of the glances from other students throughout the day, but she wasn’t sure if it was because she was new, or if they somehow knew about why she had been sent to the prison world. Either way, she wanted to show everyone that she wasn’t a bad person, at least not anymore.

“I’ll come too. I’m sure Lizzie is going to want to go, so she’ll force me to go with her since she really shouldn’t be moving around yet,” Hope explained.

“The great Hope Mikaelson at a party? Never thought I would see the day,” MG joked, a laugh escaping his mouth when Hope sent him a death glare.

“Well we’ll be glad to see you tomorrow night Hope,” Kaleb said, ignoring MG’s comment.

The conversation shifted then to something Jade didn’t know about, but she still listened to the conversation, staying silent for most of the remainder of lunch. All the while, her thoughts had shifted back to what Hope had said about dark magic, and Jade had a fear that something serious was going on with Josie.

\--------------------------

Jade had spent the rest of the day trying to find Josie to talk to her, but she had been unsuccessful in her attempt. She had even gone as far as to MG show her to Josie’s room, but only Lizzie had been inside. They did have a brief conversation about Lizzie’s wound, and Jade explained to her about how to look after it, but that was as far as their discussion went.

As it stood, Jade was trying to fall asleep, Hope having already fallen asleep not long ago. She figured that if Josie was avoiding her, she would simply have to make it impossible for the siphoner to do so. How Jade planned on doing this, she had no idea, but she figured she would figure it out in the morning. It was with that thought that she finally drifted off to sleep.

\--------------------------

When she opened her eyes, she could swear everything around her was familiar, but she had no idea why. Because she had no idea why being in the woods while everything around her was on fire would be familiar to her. She placed herself outside of the Salvatore School gates, and as she moved closer to them she could see two figures standing there: one looking like the Josie Jade encountered in the prison world, and the other one being the Josie she had seen just today.

It was then that Dark Josie turned to Jade, saying with an evil smile, “There you are. I was wondering when you would show up. I don’t know why you’re showing up, but turning on your humanity must’ve connected you to me, so now I’m stuck having to deal with you every night.”

Jade was completely thrown off guard by the dark version of Josie’s words, and she was already speaking before she could stop herself, “So this isn’t a dream?”

Laughing at Jade, Dark Josie replied, “Of course not! This is the only plane I currently control, and it’s as real as can be. Anything that happens here, definitely happens to you in the waking world, no exceptions.”

“Don’t hurt her, please,” Josie’s voice suddenly rang out, a pleading note in her voice that caused Dark Josie to turn her attention back to Josie.

“As I asked last night: What are you going to do to stop me?” Dark Josie questioned before speaking over her shoulder, “And before you even ask, yes, you were here last night, but I made you forget it. A simple dark magic spell really. Not much to it.”

Looking at Josie and then back to Dark Josie, Jade inquired, “Does that mean you’re going to do it again tonight?”

“Excellent question,” Dark Josie quipped, “And to answer it, no I’m not. I’m going to do something much more fun. I’m just going to make it so you can’t talk about it. Much like I did to the weaker version of myself, even though she still found a way to convey something was going on.”

Silence settled amongst the three, the only sound being that of crackling wood as it burned. Jade turned to look at the Salvatore School as it burned, watching wisps of smoke rise up into the sky, congregating to form clouds of smoke. Jade wasn’t sure how long the silence asked, but she was startled when Dark Josie finally spoke again.

“As  _ wonderful _ as all this silence is, it’s a tad boring. Why don’t we touch on some fun aspects of Josie’s mind?”

Not giving anyone a chance to answer, Dark Josie continued on without a care in the world, “How she doesn’t want to get attached to a certain strawberry blonde vampire, because she’s scared she’ll leave just like a certain dark-haired witch. Or that this vampire will break her poor heart and get with someone she truly loves. Or the fact that she’s afraid to give into the darkness that’s within her, because she would never be able to live with the aftermath. That one is what really gets me, because there’s no way she’ll ever take over again once I finally overtake her. My favorite one, though, is the fact that she really believes she doesn’t deserve happiness. I guess it won’t be much of a problem once she gives into the dark magic, but it’s fun to ta-”

“That’s enough! You can degrade me all you want, and reveal all my secrets and insecurities, but I will never give into the darkness,” Josie suddenly shouted, cutting off her dark counterpart.

Jade was too stunned by what Dark Josie had said about Josie to speak up. She knew she should speak up, but she really didn’t know what to say to what was going on.

“Then I guess I’ll just have to do my own thing and take over,” Dark Josie calmly answered, shrugging her shoulders as she continued, “It makes no difference to me, but I’ll wait til you least expect it. When you think you have complete control and are enjoying yourself, that’ll be when I take over. That just means you’ll be living in fear, and I’m okay with that.”

“Josie’s too strong for that to ever happen,” Jade confidently stated, having complete faith in Josie. She didn’t know Josie that well, but what she did know from the prison world before the sandclock had been broken was that Josie was smart and would fight for what was right, even if it meant pretending to befriend her sociopathic uncle.

“Ah yes, nothing like blind faith,” Dark Josie mockingly said, “And I’m tired of it, so it’s time for this to be over.”

Neither Jade nor Josie had time to say anything as Dark Josie murmured a spell and everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY I KNOW I KINDA ENDED THIS HOW I ENDED LAST CHAPTER, but don't be upset. I have plans for this fic and I didn't realize it would end up with back to back chapters ending with a dream. I'm having a lot of fun writing this, and I hope you people are enjoying reading it. I'll see y'all next time when I show up with another update. Stay safe until then!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just want to say that the ending of this chapter is not what i had originally planned at all, but it was a 2am decision to go with, so it's what was written. enjoy

Jade woke with a start to the sound of her alarm going off. All of the events from her dream came rushing back, and she felt like she hadn’t slept at all. Blindly reaching towards her nightstand for her alarm clock, she fumbled until she managed to turn it off. Still not opening her eyes, she tried to put everything together from her dream—at least she was calling it a dream—from last night.

Josie still had dark magic coursing through her.

Somehow she was connected to Josie, thus causing her to share dreams with Josie.

It all related to the fact that Dark Josie had turned her humanity back on in the prison world.

Dark Josie deciding to torture her and Josie by making them unable to tell anyone what was happening.

And then there was the one Jade was trying not to think about; the implication that Josie liked her. 

Jade was trying to take this final part with a grain of salt, because it was probably just Dark Josie messing with her mind, and trying to get under Josie’s skin. There were more pressing matters about the whole situation than emotions, so Jade tried to move onto the matter of how Dark Josie was threatening to take over when they least expected it.

These thoughts were all put to a halt when she heard a knock on the door.

Finally opening her eyes, Jade saw that Hope was already gone, so she called out, “You can come in.”

Sitting up on her bed, Jade watched as Josie nervously walked into the room, refusing to make eye contact with Jade.

When she closed the door behind her, Josie finally spoke, “I’m hoping you know why I'm here.

Jade went to say that it was about the dream, but when she tried to say so, it felt as if she were choking and couldn’t say anything at all.

“Judging by your reaction, I’ll say you do,” Josie commented as she finally looked at Jade, “It’s no good to try and say anything; it just gets worse the more you try.”

Clearing her throat, Jade asked, “It can get worse?” She didn’t see how it could get worse, but then again she also knew just how many different ways a person could be tortured. That knowledge was of course all thanks to Kai Parker and she genuinely wished she didn’t have it.

Josie just nodded before changing the subject ever so slightly, “I’m scared Jade, and you’re the only person who knows why. I don’t know what to do.”

“Hey, we’ll figure it out, okay?” Jade reassured Josie, her features softening as she looked at the siphoner in front of her. 

“How?” Josie questioned, her voice increasing in volume ever so slightly as she continued, “We can’t even talk about it! There’s no way of even knowing when-”

Jade watched as Josie didn’t finish her sentence, instead Josie looked much like Jade had moments ago, choking on her words. Hurrying out of her bed over to Josie, Jade did all she could think of as she hugged Josie and quietly stated, “That’s all true, but I’d like to think that the good guys always win in the end. We may not have a plan right now, but we’ll create one, don’t worry.”

Whether Josie believed what she said or not, Jade had no way of knowing, instead all she was met by was the feeling of tears soaking through her shirt.

\--------------------------

“There you are!” Wendy exclaimed as she sat down beside Jade in the library, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you, and fortunately for me, MG told me he saw you coming in here.”

“Yeah,” Jade exhaled, closing the book in front of her, “I just needed some time alone to think.” Of course, all her thinking had been going around in the same circle; going back and forth between the whole dark magic dilemma with Josie, and then her own personal issues that mainly centered around feelings for Josie that she didn’t have the time to deal with.

Wendy looked at her strangely at that as she replied, “We were alone in that prison world for ten years! We had plenty of time to be alone with our thoughts. Now is the time to live a little, not being cooped up in a library by yourself.”

“I know,” Jade conceded after a few seconds of silence before continuing, “It’s just that I like the quiet. I always have found comfort in the quietness of life.” And she wasn’t lying when she said that; she always did try to seek out quiet places when she could, especially after she was turned and her hearing was amplified. 

“Do you think you’ll be able to take a break from your quiet solitude tonight to go to the party at the Old Mill?” Wendy quickly questioned.

Offering a smile towards her friend, Jade replied, “I think I’ll be able to make an appearance.” Looking down at the table for a second as she thought about it, Jade looked back up at Wendy and curiously asked, “Why did you ask to room with Alyssa?”

“Well the morning after we slept at the Old Mill while you were still asleep, Alyssa and I started to talk to one another and we got along really well,” Wendy admitted, continuing to speak, “And we both realized that Dr Saltzman probably wouldn’t let you and I room together in the chance we decided to plot revenge against him, so we thought it would be smart to ask to room together if we had the chance.”

“Oh,” was all Jade said as she thought about it. She reasoned that Wendy’s logic made sense, so she accepted it at face value. Plus, she didn’t think Wendy would lie to her about it, especially after suffering in the prison world together.

“Yeah,” Wendy awkwardly replied before standing up, “I’m going to head to lunch though, so I’ll leave you to be with your thoughts I guess.”

“Alright, I’ll see you tonight,” Jade said as Wendy started to walk away, leaving Jade alone in the library. She could tell that the dynamic was shifting between her and Wendy now that they were back in the real world, and it hurt to know that she was beginning to lose one of her closest friends. Sighing, she gathered all of her belongings and headed towards Emma’s office to meet with her.

\--------------------------

Waiting for Emma to open the door after she had knocked, Jade nervously looked around at the decor on the school walls. A lot had changed since she had been gone, but some of the decorations were still the same. She took comfort in knowing that not everything had changed while she was gone, even if some of it was not the best.

She turned when she heard the door open and was greeted by Emma.

“Ah, Jade. I’m glad you swung by, I was hoping you would decide to,” Emma said as she moved to the side so Jade could enter her office.

Entering into the office, Jade observed the interior of the office, a part of her still looking for what she could use to defend herself if something were to happen. Finally shifting her gaze towards Emma, Jade answered her, “MG mentioned that Dr Saltzman might make me attend, so I thought it would be a good idea to get it over with myself. Plus, MG said he talks to you ever since he discovered he was a ripper, and he said it helps, so here I am.”

“Dr Saltzman had spoken with me about you attending sessions, but I’m happy to see you sought me out on your own,” Emma answered as she sat down at her desk, proceeding to keep talking as she did so, “I know this is sudden, but I’m doing a group therapy session in a few days, and I think it would be a good idea if you participated.”

“Yeah,” Jade nodded, offering a small smile as she continued, “I think that’s a great idea. Can I ask who all is going to be a part of it?”

Studying Jade for a second, Emma replied, “Of course. It’s hopefully going to be you, MG, Hope, Rafael, Lizzie, and then Josie. You know all of them except Rafael, so I’m hoping that’s alright.”

“It’s all good,” Jade quickly replied, her thoughts momentarily derailed at the mention of Josie. She hadn’t seen Josie since second period, but even then things had been strained between them because of what was happening. There was so much Jade wanted to say to Josie, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to, and Jade assumed the same for Josie, and that’s why they were silent.

“Excellent,” Emma declared, bringing her hands together as she looked at Jade, “Now let’s start by moving on to talking about you and start to get into what all happened. . .”

\--------------------------

“Are you sure you’re up for a party already?” Hope asked Jade as they left their room.

“I think the social interaction will do me good,” Jade answered,focusing her gaze down the hallway as Hope closed the door to their room. In all honesty, she had wanted to back out of going but she had told Wendy she would be there and then there was the fact that Josie was going to be there and since she was the only other person to know Dark Josie’s threat, she knew she had to be there.

“As long as you’re sure,” Hope conceded after a beat of silence as the two walked down the hall before she spoke again, “I promised Lizzie I would stop by her room and pick her up for the party, so her and Josie are joining us.”

Walking beside Hope, Jade nodded before adding as an afterthought, “Awesome.”

“I’m surprised you’re okay not trying to stop Lizzie from the party,” Hope genuinely commented in response to the short answer Jade had given her, “And not to pry, but you seem kind of out of it. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jade answered, trying to make her voice sound convincing, “I’m just thinking about my meeting with Emma today. I went there during lunch and then missed my afternoon classes because we just kept talking.” Her talk with Emma had actually been really helpful, although they hadn’t really gone too far into the prison world; they had mostly focused on what had led to the prison world and how she had killed Inez and turned her humanity off. It had hurt to talk about, but now, hours later, Jade was content with the fact that she had been able to talk about it and express how that had made her feel.

“Oh shit, I didn’t realize. I hope it was helpful for you,” Hope replied as they came to a stop in front of the twins’ room. Shooting a glance at Jade, Hope raised her hand and knocked on the door, “Hey you two. Are you ready?”

“In a few seconds we will be, but you can come in in the meantime,” Lizzie’s voice announced, slightly muffled due to the closed door.

Hope opened the door and walked in with Jade right behind her as both looked towards where the twins were. Jade, of course, also took a glance around at everything else in the room, taking into account the layout of the room. Her gaze eventually settled on Josie as the two made eye contact and then glanced away.

“I’m still surprised I didn’t have to beg you to go to this party,” Lizzie commented, her statement directed towards Hope, “I know you hate them, but you just agreed to go without a fight. You must really like me Mikaelson.”

Jade noticed how Hope blushed at Lizzie’s statement but glanced away so Lizzie wouldn’t notice.

“I just thought it wouldn’t be a party without you there, so I decided to take one for the team and go so that I could look after you,” Hope reasoned, looking back up at Lizzie to see the blonde studying her.

“If that’s what you have to call it, fine by me,” Lizzie stated before turning back to the mirror to finish her makeup. 

It was then that Josie finally spoke, “I can always make sure she’s okay if you wanted to socialize at the party.”

Holding in a laugh at how oblivious Josie was to what was happening between Lizzie and Hope, Jade quickly inputted her opinion, “I don’t think that’ll be necessary Josie.” Jade just smiled at Josie when the brunette siphoner looked at her with a confused look on her face, momentarily able to forget everything that was going on, being able to live in the moment she was in without fear of darkness striking at any moment.

“Jade’s right. You deserve to have a night to relax, and you can’t do that if you’re worrying about your sister,” Hope stated, pausing before concluding with, “And I’ll make sure Lizzie has an amazing time, don’t you worry.”

“Yeah Jo, Hope has a point. You deserve to have some time to yourself. Take some time to relax now that all the drama from the prison world is over with, crazy uncle and all,” Lizzie said, reaffirming what Hope had said, but also adding her own opinion as well.

And just like that, Jade’s time of living in the moment was ended as quickly as it had come. Both her and Josie sent each other a pained expression because they knew just how far from the truth Lizzie actually was. The ‘drama’ from the prison world was very much still a real threat to them, but this time it was like a bomb waiting to go off. The suspense was there of waiting for the countdown to hit zero, and the knowledge of the destruction the end result could cause was heavy in Jade’s mind. 

It was only a few seconds later that Lizzie was setting down her makeup brush and slowly standing up as she announced, “It’s time we get to that party and have a spectacular time.” 

Taking Hope’s arm, Lizzie and Hope started to walk towards the door before Josie spoke, “I need to talk to Jade about something, but we’ll be right behind you.”

“Sounds good Josie, we’ll see you there!” Hope exclaimed as her and Lizzie left the room, leaving behind Jade and Josie.

“What did you want to talk about?” Jade asked after the sound of laughter from Hope and Lizzie died down in the hallway. She really didn’t know what Josie wanted to talk about since the one thing they desperately needed to talk about couldn’t be discussed.

“I just,” Josie started to say as she also started pacing back and forth, “There’s just something I really want to do and I need to do it before I lose the nerve or control of myself due to circumstance but I’m sca-”

“Josie,” Jade softly said, cutting Josie off as she walked closer to the witch, placing a hand on her shoulder so she would quit pacing, “What is it?”

Turning to face Jade, Josie looked as if she was debating what she was going to say before ultimately voicing a quiet, “This,” as she moved forward, connecting her lips with Jade’s, closing her eyes as she moved.

Jade was caught completely off guard and it was a second before her own eyes fluttered shut as her brain processed everything that was happening. Moving to make the kiss more natural, Jade cautiously placed a hand on the back of Josie’s neck as she kissed her back. For a second everything seemed right and Jade could only equate what she was feeling to as if she was flying, but it was cut short when Josie abruptly pulled away.

“I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” Josie hurriedly apologized and she started to run out of the room, “I-I’ll see you at the party.”

And with that, Jade was left alone in the room, dazed from the kiss and what had happened afterwards. It was only after she was certain Josie was long gone that she left the room and started to make her way towards the party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> of course it couldn't be completely happy; we are only on chapter 4 of course! i hope you guys liked this ending for the chapter though, because i think it's a lot better than what i had originally wanted. and as a side note, writing kissing scenes really isn't my strong-suit because i really struggle with description as it is so i apologize if it isn't the best but i'm also not a very affectionate person so my writing suffers from that. as always, you can find me on twitter @legayseas to keep up with my nonsense! i hope you all stay safe and healthy during this time!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the party at the old mill unfolds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw// putting this just in case as there are mentions of blood 
> 
> also chapter five on may 5th? i think the coincidence is cool that it's the fifth chapter on the fifth day of the month in the fifth month of the year

Jade arrived at the party about ten minutes after Josie had run away from her in the school. Her eyes instantly scanned the crowd for Josie as she approached, finding the brown haired siphoner with Lizzie and Hope. Staring for what was probably too long, she blushed when Josie made eye contact with her, and Jade was going to approach her when Wendy stepped in front of her line of sight.

“There you are! I thought you would never get here,” Wendy slurred out, clearly already having more than her fair share of alcohol.

Alyssa was standing to the side, clearing her throat to announce her presence as she started speaking, “She made it her goal to drink as much as she could to celebrate being free from the prison world.” To further clarify, Alyssa added, “I told her to take it easy, but she wouldn’t listen.”

Looking from Wendy to Alyssa, Jade directed her response to Alyssa, “Just make sure she makes it back to your room safely.” Jade was no stranger to how Wendy liked to party; before the prison world Wendy was always in the know about parties going on at the Old Mill while Jade was always the one who made sure nothing got out of hand. 

“You’re not gonna hang out with us?” Wendy suddenly asked, hurt evident in her voice, but then it turned more angry, “Too good to hang out with me already? I mean today in the library you could barely talk to me, and now you’re, what? Bailing on hanging out?”

Wendy’s words cut deep and Jade could see Alyssa say something to Wendy, but she couldn’t hear what it was; she was too overcome by some mixture of anger and sadness at what Wendy had said. She should’ve known she would get hit by overwhelming emotions at some point, but for it to happen around so many people was what scared her; she had no idea what would happen if she let them get the better of her. So taking a deep breath to ground herself, Jade slowly answered, “I’m not bailing. We’ve barely talked since we’ve come back and when we talked today, you couldn’t seem to get away from me fast enough!” 

Shrugging Alyssa off, Wendy moved closer to Jade, “Yeah,” Wendy scoffed, “Maybe because you could barely say three words to me? And when you did it was to question my decisions.” 

“I can’t do this right now Wendy, you’re drunk, and I really need to talk to Josie,” Jade managed to get out through gritted teeth. She was spiraling and she knew it. The only way to prevent it from getting out of control was to get away from whatever it was that was happening with Wendy, so she moved to go around Wendy, but was stopped when the witch grabbed her arm.

“Of course it’s fucking Josie Saltzman,” Wendy spat out, releasing her grasp on Jade’s arm as she finished, “Her dad sends us to the prison world to rot and you’re trying to get with her. Unbelievable.”

Jade just swallowed her comment and walked away, but not before hearing Wendy’s last comment.

“This isn’t over. I’d be cautious if I were you.”

Resisting every part of her that screamed at her to call Wendy out for threatening her, Jade just walked away, looking for Josie, but seeing the brunette siphoner had disappeared from where she had been when Jade arrived.

“Hey Jade!” 

Jade turned when someone called out to her, seeing Kaleb holding two drinks standing there. She must’ve had a weird expression on her face because the next thing out of Kaleb’s mouth was, “Is everything alright?”

Blinking, Jade tried to smile at Kaleb, answering, “Yeah, I’m good. I was just talking to Wendy and she seemed pretty upset with me. That’s all.”

“Damn, that sucks,” Kaleb answered, walking closer and holding out one of the drinks he was holding, “This was supposed to be for MG, but you need it more.”

Shaking her head, Jade replied, “I’m good. I’ve never been a fan of drinking.” It was only a partial lie, because she really wasn’t a fan, but she mostly declined because she didn’t want her mind clouded. It was already bad enough that she was already close to snapping, she didn’t need to be hindered by alcohol to make things worse.

“Then I guess MG still gets his drink,” Kaleb remarked before asking, “Do you wanna come hang with us or were you heading somewhere else?”

“I would love to hang with you and MG, but I was actually looking for Josie,” Jade admitted, scanning the crowd for Josie’s familiar face, “There’s something I need to talk to her about.”

Kaleb just nodded as if he knew what was happening, “Ah, I see. Well you’re in luck, I just saw her with Hope and Lizzie getting drinks.”

“Awesome, thanks Kaleb,” Jade said as she started to walk towards where the drinks are, “If I get a chance, I’ll find you and MG later.”

She heard Kaleb reply, “Sounds good,” before he walked away to find MG.

As she approached the gathering of people around the drinks, she made eye contact with Josie who immediately looked away.

Hope looked up then to see Jade approaching them, proceeding to greet her, “Jade, you made it. Josie said you got held up by something.”

Chancing another glance at Josie, Jade saw that she still wasn’t looking at her, so she answered, “Yeah, I just remembered I had to give Dr Saltzman something that he needed. Didn’t want to get in trouble my first week back.”

“What could he have possibly needed?” Lizzie questioned, “All your records were still here from ten years ago. The school stores all records.”

Jade wasn’t expecting the question as she stammered out, “Well, uh he needed uh-”

“Dad had asked her to get this paper filled out by all her teachers saying that she was attending class,” Josie interjected, covering for Jade, “I guess he wanted to make sure Jade didn’t break any rules, even after everything he did.”

Jade watched as Lizzie slowly looked from her to Josie, studying the situation before ultimately stating, “Interesting” Suddenly focusing her gaze on Hope, she suggested, “Hey Hope, I kinda want to go talk to Jed about something.”

“But you never ta-” Hope started to speak before getting cut off by Lizzie.

“It’s really important and can’t wait,” Lizzie stated, glaring at Hope before standing up, “Let’s go.”

Jade watched as the two left, overhearing Lizzie saying something to Hope about being able to read the room, before turning to look at Josie, “Hey.”

Looking up at Jade, Josie just replied back, “Hey.”

Sighing, Jade sat down next to Josie on the log the siphoner was sitting on, thinking over her next words carefully, her mind still reeling from her conversation with Wendy. She was about to say something to Josie about the kiss, but was beat by Josie asking her own question.

“What happened between you and Wendy? She seemed mad when you two were talking.”

“Oh, that’s nothing,” Jade breathed out, “She just thinks I’m bailing on hanging out with her.”

“Well aren’t you?” Josie questioned, “You are here with me, instead of with her.”

Frowning as she looked at Josie, Jade replied, “No, it’s not. She’s only spoken to me once since we started school again, so it feels like she’s the one bailing not me.” Jade was thrown off by Josie’s question, not expecting the siphoner to take Wendy’s side in the argument. In an attempt to get the conversation back to where she had been going to take it, she added, “Plus I like hanging out with you more.”

“You shouldn’t,” Josie bitterly replied as she rested her chin on her hands,

“Why’s that?” Jade asked, further perplexed by Josie’s demeanor.

Tilting her head to look at Jade once more, Josie took a deep breath before explaining, “Because as you know, I’m practically a ticking time bomb for reasons I can’t say. I don’t know how you would prefer my presence when you know that at any moment I could snap.”

“Jos,” Jade started, at a loss for words, “It’s because I know you have a good heart and as I said, I have faith in you. Good always beats evil.”

“Do you, do you believe that?” Josie asked, her voice tinged with the faintest hint of hope.

“Of course I do,” Jade answered, offering a smile toward Josie, “There’s no room in this world for lying; I try to say the truth as much as I can. Might be the only perk of having my humanity off for so long, of course I recognize other people’s feelings now.” Jade hoped Josie believed her, because she really was telling the truth. She genuinely believed Josie was strong enough to keep the darkness at bay even if she wasn’t able to say those exact words.

Jade waited for Josie to say something in response, but when she didn’t Jade spoke up again, “Can we quit ignoring the other elephant in the room that we can actually talk about?”

“It was a mistake Jade. I shouldn’t have done it. I crossed so many boundaries and you’re still adjusting to being back, so it was stupid on my part. I’m sorry,” Josie hurriedly answered, her cheeks flushing a deep shade of red as she explained herself.

“Hey there’s no need to apologize,” Jade soothed, running a hand through her hair out of nervousness, “I was—and am—oka-”

Jade was interrupted in the middle of her sentence by someone pulling her off the log by her arm. Looking up, she saw Wendy standing there with a broken bottle in her hand.

“Wendy, what the hell?” Jade questioned as she stood up, brushing off her pants before moving closer to Wendy who backed away, “Why’d you do that?” Searching the faces of everyone who was now starting to crowd around, Jade couldn’t locate Alyssa amongst them.

“If you’re looking for Alyssa, she wandered off with some guy. Or was it a girl...” Wendy stated, trailing off at the end as a laugh escaped from her mouth, “So I saw this as my chance.”

“Your chance to do what?” Josie’s voice piped up from behind Jade, and when Jade turned to look at Josie, she saw that Josie had stood up, anger and confusion on her face.

Rolling her eyes, Wendy gestured at everyone around them, “A chance to have them see past the front Jade is trying to put up.”

“I am not putting up a front, Wendy. You’re drunk, just let this go, we can talk about it in the morning. Now is not the time to make rash decisions,” Jade pleaded, her mind running a mile a minute as she tried to figure out what Wendy’s end goal was. She knew Wendy could always be unpredictable, but tonight was a whole new ballpark of unpredictable that Jade had never seen before.

“Oh please Jade, this is the most unrash decision I’ve ever made,” Wendy scoffed as she stared atJade, “And you are putting up a front. The front of being this perfect model student. That ship sailed ten years ago when you decided to take me and Diego with you to that little meet-up in the woods. The meet-up that cost me _ten_ _years_ of my life. Hell, it cost Diego his life. So I’m going to show everyone that you aren’t some perfect student.”

Trying to maintain a level-head the best she could, Jade tried pleading with Wendy once more, “You don’t have to do this. Whatever you plan on doing, it isn’t worth it. We didn’t get out of the prison word just to destroy our new chances at life a few days later.”

“Our lives were destroyed ten years ago Jade!” Wendy exclaimed, everyone around her jumping slightly at her raising her voice, “Don’t you get that? Just because you’re infatuated with the girl who’s father sent us to that hell-hole, that doesn’t mean that you get to ignore what happened! That’s why I have to do this.”

And with that, Wendy took the broken bottle in her right hand and dragged it across the palm of her left hand, cutting open her hand, creating a wound that started bleeding instantly.

Everything went hazy in Jade’s mind as soon as she saw the blood and the scent reached her. She didn’t see how all the wolves and witches started getting the other vampires out of there. It was like everything faded away and it was just her and Wendy. She could feel the veins popping out on her face and her fangs cutting into her mouth. Her mind flashed to Inez and how she felt that night, and Jade knew she needed to control herself, prevent herself from repeating the mistakes from ten years ago, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t stop the blood lust.

She went to move towards Wendy to do what every part of her being wanted to do, but two arms wrapped around her, causing her to stop in her tracks.

“Jade don’t do this,” Josie’s begged, her voice shaking, “You don’t have to do this. You can fight it.”

“I can’t,” Jade hissed out, trying to escape Josie’s grasp. She knew Josie was right, she really did, but in this moment her mind didn’t care about that fact; it only cared about one thing.

Gripping Jade even harder, Josie tried again, “Yes you can. It’s just like you told me, good always beats evil. And you believe that. Take a page from your book, and let goodness persevere.”

Jade faltered at that, having her words thrown back at her so soon was something she hadn’t been expected. For a second she regained control of her blood lust and she could feel the veins around her eyes returning to normal as she closed her eyes to try and fight, to fight for Josie. She knew it sounded cliché that she was doing this all for a girl, but if it worked, she wasn’t going to complain.

When she felt Josie’s arm loosen around her, Jade opened her eyes fearful of what was going to happen, but instead it was just her, Josie, Hope, and Lizzie standing there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> huh, i really did that, didn't i? i dunno what came over me to do that. let's just say i had this scene planned for a while, with a few different ways it would play out. the party was always destined to be a scene where this happened; the evolution of how it got to this point was the only change. come yell at me on twitter for this @legayseas

**Author's Note:**

> As I said in the note at the beginning, I hope to update soon since I know how I want to approach the next few chapters, so stay tuned for that. As always you can find me on Twitter @legayseas to see what kind of nonsense I am up to on there! Until next time everyone


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